How to substitute 65% chocolate for unsweetened

[ruthcooks]

I have finally found "my" chocolate, but have no idea how to use it in my favorite recipes which I've always made with unsweetened plain ole Baker's chocolate.

Is there a formula for this? For example, my brownie recipe calls for 2 squares unsweetened chocolate and 1 cup sugar. I used 3 ounces of 65% and just reduced the sugar slightly. The brownies were great tasting, but seemed sweeter than usual. Any ideas?

I've used the usual expensive chocolates, Scharffen Berger, Vahlrona, etc., but found a new (to me, anyway) chocolate in the supermarket made by--of all companies--Hershey's. They have several different 100 gram bars (3.53 oz.) under the "Cacao Reserve by Hershey's" label. This particular one is labeled 65% Extra Dark Chocolate. I liked it for eating and in the brownies both. This bar is both smaller and more expensive than their regular large eating bars, and was located in the candy section.

I would guess I could subsitute 1 for 1 in recipes calling for semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate. Ya think?

[tino27]

I'm justing guessing here, but does the bar of chocolate have a nutrional label on the back of it? If so (and I'm assuming it does), it should list the portion size and how many grams of sugar are associated with the portion size. Do the math accordingly, and you should know how much sugar to leave out.

[Patrick S]

Maybe the following would work. First, calculate the cacao mass equivalents for the two chocolates. If the recipe calls for 4oz of 100% chocolate, use 4/0.65=6.15oz of 65% chocolate. Then, determine how much sugar you've added, so you can substract that from the recipe. For instance, if the 65% chocolate has, say, 8g sugar per ounce, and you're using 6.15oz of 65% chocolate, you'd subtract 49grams of sugar. For a variety of reasons, this is just going to be an approximation (e.g. some of the sugars in the 65% might be milk sugars, or the two chocolates might have different cocoa butter concentrations), but I imagine it will get you close.

Edited October 19, 2006 by Patrick S (log)

[merstar]

Ruth,

Do you have Alice Medrich's "Bittersweet?" She goes into all the various cacao percentages and how to substitute one for the other. All the recipes in her book include choices of cacao percentages - how much to use, how to adjust the sugar, butter, etc.

For example, her "Classic Unsweetened Brownies" recipe uses 4 oz unsweetened chocolate, 1 1/4 cups sugar, and 8 Tbsp butter.

For 66 - 72 % bittersweet chocolate, she uses 6 1/2 oz chocolate, 1 cup sugar, and 7 Tbsp butter.

For 50 - 62 % semisweet, she uses 10 oz chocolate, 2/3 cup sugar, and 5 Tbsp butter.

Hope this helps you out.

[srhcb]

Ruth,

Do you have Alice Medrich's "Bittersweet?" She goes into all the various cacao percentages and how to substitute one for the other.  All the recipes in her book include choices of cacao percentages - how much to use, how to adjust the sugar, butter, etc. 

←

A very good point included here. Besides the sugar, chocolates differ in fat content, which can have a significant effect on a recipe.

Recall Altron Brown's episode on Chocolate Chip Cookies where he made everything from thin/crisp to soft/chewy versions of the same recipe by altering the sugar and fat ratios.

SB

Edited October 19, 2006 by srhcb (log)

[miladyinsanity]

I third the Medrich Bittersweet recommend. It's not just the sugar, it's the fat content as well.

[Patrick S]

As I understand it, the cacao mass of most chocolates (including unsweetened) is right about 54% cocoa butter/46% cacao solids, which is the natural ratio found in cacao beans. As long as you are comparing two chocolates with the same cocoa butter concentration in their cacao mass (i.e. no added cocoa butter), and including no fats other than cocoa butter (e.g. milk fats), it seems to me that you wouldn't need to do a seperate correction for fat content -- it would be included in the cacao mass conversion (since cacao mass is both the fats and the solids). In the example I gave above, for instance, 4oz of 100% and 6.15oz of 65% would include the same amounts of cocoa butter, provided that the cacao mass of each type had the same ratio of cacao butter/cacao solids. Unless I'm missing something?

ETA: Does anyone have any good info on the cocoa butter contents of various "dark" chocolates? Im interested to see how much variability there is from variety to variety.

Edited October 19, 2006 by Patrick S (log)

[ruthcooks]

Thanks, everyone. I'll look into buying "Bittersweet" soon.